Vickers to visit USC Saturday

By Phil Kornblut

DE Kendal Vickers (6-3 230) of Havelock, NC remains dead set on playing at USC, and he hopes he can join the 2013 class. With that in mind, he will visit USC Saturday for the scrimmage along with teammate and Gamecock signee Pharoh Cooper. Vickers has been working to raise his GPA so he would have the chance to qualify for this year's class. USC told him during the recruiting season they would hold a spot for him in case he qualifies. "They said I need two A's and two B's to qualify and if I do get two A's and two B's we will figure it out from there," Vickers said. Right now, Vickers said, he has those exact grades for this nine week period. He will take the ACT next Saturday. If he does not qualify, he said USC would put him in a prep school. He has been keeping in touch with USC director of high school relations Robbie Lyles. Vickers and the other players from Havelock were recruited to USC by Brad Lawing who is now at Florida. Lawing has not attempted to sway those player away from USC. "When he left he talked to one of my coaches and said he was going to leave us alone," Vickers said. "He said that South Carolina is the place for us." Vickers' teammate, RB Derrell Scott, visited USC a couple of weeks ago but will not visit Saturday. "He's liking South Carolina," Vickers said.

OL Branton Autry (6-4 320) of Coffeyville JC, KS is getting a lot of interest from USC these days and when he gets around to deciding on official visits he will take this summer and fall, he's confident the Gamecocks will get one.

Laurens DB Thomas Jones (6-3 200) is gaining momentum in recruiting circles. He recently was offered by North Carolina and Saturday he picked up an offer from USC while attending a junior day. He also has offers from Duke, Charlotte and Miami of Ohio and Clemson is showing some interest. He plans to go to Clemson for the spring game April 11th.

6-4 Jamall Gregory of Washington, DC made an official visit to USC over the weekend with his mother and he's now ready to make his college decision. Gregory said he plans to decide between the Gamecocks and Kansas State between now and Wednesday. He has not yet visited Kansas State.

Goose Creek DE Javon Kinlaw (6-7 265) has had USC at the top of his list since the Gamecocks were the first to offer him in August 2014. And he went to the Gamecocks' junior day Saturday thinking he might be ready to commit. But that didn't happen Saturday and Kinlaw say no commitment is coming from him anytime soon.

Conway WR Bryan Edwards (6-3 208) attended USC's junior day Saturday with the Gamecocks and Georgia at the top of his list and hoping to get some clarity about his recruiting. Apparently things became real clear to him on this visit because Edwards committed to the Gamecocks.